Come this fall there will be much regret when you begin to understand just how much parting is sweet sorrow when you know not from what light through yonder window breaks. But fear not, for my purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour. In other words, if music be the food of love, play on, and play on the Vineyard Playhouse’s Outdoor Shakespeare Festival does, but just for one more weekend.

For many, the word opera evokes images of ornate costumes and talented vocalists singing to their tragic deaths. So it may surprise some to learn that Italian composer Giacomo Puccini ended his career with Gianni Schicchi, a farcical comedy. The libretto will make its way to the Island next week, when Wendy Taucher Dance Opera Theater stages a full production at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs. The hour-long opera, Mr. Puccini’s only comedy, begins when a wealthy man, Buoso Donati, leaves his fortune to the church, instead of his family.

What would happen if we actually were able to live with the celebrities we fawn over? You’d need to fully restock your kitchen three times a day to support Michael Phelps. Annie Oakley would surely stir up trouble with the neighbors. Whoever it is, normal life would simply go awry.

In her work-in-progress play, Wild Nights, award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates portrays the attempted assimilation of not only a celebrity, but one of the greatest literary names of all time — Emily Dickinson.

My mom is trying to ruin my life. A simple sentence that has become a catchphrase for generations of young people. But one of these life-ruining moms recently embraced her status and wrote a children’s book in honor of her role as the so-called villain in her daughter’s life.

Daniel Beaty is a man of many talents. And in his off-Broadway, award-winning play called Through the Night, he is a man of many men. Tonight, July 27, Mr. Beaty is bringing this one-man performance to Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, courtesy of Monina von Opel.

“I’ve been watching his career evolve over time,” said Ms. von Opel. “I like to watch people evolve. I am very interested in the creative process.”

Again and again, it seems, Christmas brings us face to face with the same old question. Where does a rabidly materialistic society like our own get off celebrating the man who taught poverty by reveling in a superfluity of consumer goods? Perhaps they didn’t juggle exactly the same paradox, but the monks of 12th century England labored over the same vexing question of how best to reconcile Christian piety with the pull of earthly delights.

Storyteller par excellence Susan Klein captured the imagination of more than 40 people Saturday night at the Unitarian-Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard on Main street in Vineyard Haven, with her program entitled Silent Night, An Evening of Christmas Stories.

The raconteuse from Oak Bluffs opened with a sound check: “We’re recording all live performances from here on — just because.” Because, Ms. Klein explained, when she was old and gray she wanted to sit back and listen to us laugh again.

In the aftermath of the Patriots Day northeaster this spring, Chappaquiddick resident Francesca Kelly climbed into her pickup truck. She drove over debris-strewn roads, finally making her way to Norton Point. The whole time, a piece of classical music played on the stereo. When she got there, she parked and watched the water rush through the breach, a dead dolphin caught in the sands nearby.